Key Takeaways:

• A Fulton County choose dismissed a civil forfeiture lawsuit, permitting Young Thug to reclaim seized belongings.
• The ruling consists of the return of about $145,000 in money, two automobiles and a number of items of jewellery.
• The determination highlights how asset seizures can impression artists going through RICO prices.

Young Thug scored a brand new courtroom win in Atlanta. Nearly a yr after strolling free from jail, a Fulton County choose has ordered that the cash, automobiles and jewellery seized throughout his headline-making RICO trial have to be returned to the rapper.

On Monday (Aug. 18), Judge Paige Reese Whitaker dismissed a civil forfeiture lawsuit tied to Young Thug’s Young Stoner Life Records RICO case. Prosecutors tried to carry onto property seized on the time of his 2022 arrest, however the choose dominated they missed obligatory deadlines to maneuver the case ahead.

The ruling means Young Thug is entitled to reclaim roughly $145,000 in money, a Chevrolet Corvette, a Jeep Grand Cherokee and a number of items of jewellery. Other high-value belongings, together with a Lamborghini Aventador, Mercedes-Benz automobiles and several other firearms, had been already returned earlier within the course of.

“The court has no option under the case law and under the statute but to grant this dismissal,” Judge Whitaker stated from the bench, per Billboard.

Prosecutors argued the delays had been brought on by Young Thug’s personal protection staff, noting that legal professional Brian Steel requested scheduling modifications whereas juggling one other high-profile case in New York. The choose rejected that reasoning, stressing that forfeiture legal guidelines have to be “strictly construed against the state.”

Deputy District Attorney Jeff DiSantis later instructed native media the workplace was “perplexed” by the ruling and is contemplating an attraction. Any return of property might be postponed if prosecutors transfer ahead with difficult the ruling.

The property dispute was the final unfastened thread in a case that dominated headlines for 3 years. Prosecutors accused Young Thug’s YSL Records label of working as “Young Slime Life,” a violent road gang in Atlanta. The trial drew widespread consideration not solely due to the rapper’s (and, by proxy, Gunna’s) stature in hip hop, but in addition as a result of prosecutors leaned closely on his lyrics as proof. The controversial tactic fueled ongoing debates about creative freedom within the authorized system. After a chaotic, drawn-out trial and talks of a mistrial, Young Thug pled responsible and was finally sentenced to probation in 2024.